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VICTIMISATION OF ETHNIC/RELIGIOUS MINORITIES: INDIA VS. USA BY: ATREYEE CHAKRABORTI
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VICTIMISATION OF ETHNIC/RELIGIOUS MINORITIES:
INDIA VS. USA
AUTHORED
BY: ATREYEE CHAKRABORTI
ABSTRACT
India is one of the countries with
the widest range of religious practices. While religious minorities in India
experience various levels of aggression and prejudice, Muslim communities have
been particularly targeted by this violence, as have Christians and Sikhs to a
lesser extent. The worst communal riots affecting Muslims in India since partition
has occurred within this larger context; in many instances, public officials'
failures or complicity have actively encouraged violence. Since 2014, attack on
Muslims has been prevalent and uprising- be it discrepancy in the CAA
(Citizenship Amendment Act) or the banning of reading out Namaaz in public. In
the recent years, the violence against the Muslims has taken a hit with an
unsettling wave of “bigotry and hostility”. This paper will focus and compare India's
and USA’s religious indifferences, the attacks on Muslims, and the crimes
against Asians to name a few.
INTRODUCTION
On March 15th,2022, the
High Court of Karnataka upheld a ruling banning wearing hijabs in schools and universities, thereby leaving
Muslim women in chaos and causing major human
rights violations. The Court stated
that such wasn’t “an essential religious
practice” However, while the anti-hijab protests were on,
the protestors wore saffron scarves and chanted “Jai shree ram” along with them.
Since 2014, attack on Muslims has been prevalent and uprising- be it discrepancy in the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or the
banning of reading out Namaaz in public. Can India still be considered as the world’s largest democracy where Muslims
face repeated attacks from Hindu mobs?
India has 200 million Muslims, but
there lacks a proportional representation. It is not a new crisis that Muslims
are underrepresented in electoral politics.
Since the beginning
of democracy, such as existed-
this trend has only been accelerated, and the marginalisation of Muslims
in politics has worsened with the
BJP's recent electoral rise.
Who is an ethnic minority?
193 out of every 1,000 people in India belong to a minority group. Muslims make
up the largest minority
community in India, making
up about 142 out of every 1,000 people. Only six Indians
out of 1,000 are Parsis. There are just six minority communities in India,
according to the Union Minority Affairs Ministry[1].
In India, who is designated as the
national government decides a minority. The National Commission for Minorities Act of 1992 governs such. Minority
citizens are only those who belong to the
communities notified per Section 2(c) of the 1992
law.
Only
six communities have been officially designated as minorities at the national
level by the national government. In October 1993, five of them were designated as minority communities- Parsis, Buddhists, Sikhs,
Christians, Muslims, and Christians. Jains were put on the list by the Centre in January 2014.
State-specific listings of minority
populations usually don’t exist, even though there are a few exceptions. For instance, Maharashtra has designated Jews as a minority population in the state,
which the Centre
also highlighted before the Supreme Court.
India is one of the countries with the
widest range of religious practices. Despite having a 79.8% Hindu majority
(according to official data), it also
has a sizable Muslim minority (14.2%) as well as several other religions, including Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.7%), Buddhists (0.7%), and Jains
(0.37%)[2]. India, which has a population of over 1.25 billion people overall, is
home to an estimated 172.2 million
Muslims, making it the third-largest Muslim nation in the world after Indonesia
and Pakistan.
Numerous additional overlapping
identities, such as caste, dialect, race, and race, as well as varying degrees of religious faith, which
defy traditional notions of identity creation and allegiance, all contribute to India's diversity. While religious
minorities in India experience various levels of
aggression and prejudice, Muslim communities have been particularly targeted by this violence, as have Christians and Sikhs to a
lesser extent. These groups also experience various socio-economic, cultural,
and legal discrimination levels.
In light of these distinctions, the Sachar Committee's
investigations—created in 2005 to research
the standard of living of Muslims throughout India—highlighted the overall
effects of systemic bias against the nation's
biggest religious minority. High levels of Muslim poverty and their underrepresentation in public
and political life were highlighted by the Committee's 2006 report's conclusions. The “Post-Sachar Evaluation
Committee's 2014”[3] follow-up to this research found that Muslims
disproportionately suffered from a lack of access
to medical care,
low educational achievement, and economic hardship, especially in metropolitan areas.
This coexists with enduring societal
and cultural bias, such as restrictions on home ownership or rental opportunities or media or educational materials
that portray Muslims
as "terrorists" or betraying
their faith. Basic services are still inaccessible to many Muslims, and efforts
to change this are usually
challenging to implement among those who tend to be excluded. This is because they are frequently the subject of "vote-bank" politics
as a whole, in which political
groups attempt to gain support by making a special appeal to a group's identity
or communal concerns. People who
encounter intersectional bias, such as women and Muslims from lower social
strata, are particularly affected
by these issues.
Institutional prejudice towards
Muslims, along with other minorities, persists in India, particularly when it
involves the police.
According to NCRB data from 2015,
more than 67% of inmates in Indian jails are accused in court cases, and 55% of this group is constituted of Muslims,
who together make up just 39% of the nation's overall
population.
Especially in Kashmir, where civil society
organisations have recorded
systematic and widespread police breaches of human rights
by arbitrarily detaining and using force, torture, and extrajudicial murders, Muslims have also been victims of
state aggression. The worst communal
riots affecting Muslims in India since Partition has occurred within this
larger context; in many instances,
public officials' failures or complicity have actively encouraged violence. Most communal violence in India
focuses on Muslims, although during the 1990s,
attacks on Christians have increased.
2008, 2009, and again in 2015 saw exceptionally high levels of violence
against Christians. Four Northeastern states—Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya,
and Arunachal Pradesh—have a majority of Christians, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu really have the greatest Christian
populations. According to reports, recent attacks on Christians have apparently been centered in the states of
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
and Telangana, all of which have a small Christian population. Threats,
intimidation, and breaches of the
right to freedom of religion or belief are experienced by Christians; they include the burning down of churches,
assaults on pastors, and the wrongful arrest of church employees. The 1980s saw increased violence against India's
religious minorities, with high- profile
attacks on Sikhs in Delhi (1984), Bengali Muslims in Assam (1983), and Muslims
in other areas of India in the late
1980s that were connected to the Babri Masjid demolition campaign. The Indian National Congress (INC) and the BJP, whose
political prominence increased in the
1980s, were two political parties that used communal violence as a tool for politics
in these occurrences[4].
MAJOR INCIDENTS OF COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA
The
years 1921 through
1940 were a very challenging time period. For instance, the Muharram celebrations in Calcutta in 1926 were ruined by a conflict that claimed 28 lives.
After the bloody
division in 1947, the first significant riots between Hindus and Muslims
occurred in 1961 in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
1983: Nellie massacre
In central Assam, close to Nellie, on
February 18, 1983, tens of thousands of Muslims of Bengali descent were killed. More than 2,000 Muslims were
classified as foreign victims of assassination.
It was violent for six hours. Many people think that the massacre served as a vehicle
for the Nogaon District's residents, particularly the tribals
and other Assamese community, to express their anger at the
Muslim population that originated in East Bengal. Additionally, it is asserted that the Muslim community has
allegedly encroached on their territory.
Ahmedabad riots in 1969
Communal rioting between Muslims and Hindus broke out in
Ahmedabad in 1969. A minimum
of 1000 individuals perished in this violence. At the time, Indira
Gandhi and Morarji Desai were at odds
about who should lead the Congress party. Rumours have been that the violence was planned to smear Mr Desai's supporter, the Gujarati chief minister.
Sikh Riot in 1984
After Prime leader Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, unrest broke
out for 15 days. After many investigation panels, eight
persons were found guilty. The cops and politicians escaped. At around six o'clock that evening, a commotion broke out shortly after Indira Gandhi's passing had been announced in
Delhi. A communal bloodbath like India hadn't
exactly been seen since the news sparked Independence. Locality after
locality in the city resonated with the
screams of the dying and burning people as chaos ruled the streets. A fortnight of bloodshed saw almost 2,700 killed and many thousands injured.
1992 Mumbai Riots
Mumbai erupted hours after the Babri
Masjid was destroyed. Unprecedented rioting rocked the city for five consecutive days in December
1992 and then again for a two-week
period in January. Up to 1,788
persons have been killed, and lakhs of rupees worth of property were damaged.
Babri Masjid 1992- 1993
The Hindu people attached the Masjid,
claiming that before the mosque, there was a Ram temple where the God Ram was born. Therefore, the whole riot
broke out and which caused death and injuries to many
people, and most of the victims were minorities.
The constitutional bench of the
Supreme Court gave a unanimous judgment permitting the construction of the temple at the site where once stood the
Babri Masjid. It gave the god Ram Lalla full ownership of the 2.77 acres of contentious property
in Ayodhya. SC further
said that Muslims
should receive alternative land as compensation for the loss of a mosque.
Gujarat riots of 2002
On February 27, 2002, a suspected
Muslim mob assaulted a train carrying Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
supporters returning
from the contentious Ayodhya holy site.
In the assault, 58 Hindu activists
passed away.
NRC-CAA of 2019
Through this CAA Bill, 2019[5] where the minorities like Muslims were indirectly asked to leave the country, and their citizenship right
was being taken away. Due to this bill, a riot occurred in Delhi, which caused more than
500 hundred people to
die.[6]
REASONS WHY VIOLENCE AGAINST ETHNIC
MINORITIES EXIST
1.
Expression of Bias or Prejudice:
It is not necessary for a perpetrator of a “hate crime” to harbour hatred towards their victim; rather, what more accurately defines such crimes
as the manifestation of prejudice or bias towards
the victim’s belonging to a group.
2.
Impact of Social settings: Our interactions
with others may also contribute to hate crimes.
Where society is set up to favour some identity qualities over others, hate crimes
are more likely to occur.
3.
Influence of Perception: According to
certain research in social
psychology, criminals may be
affected by their belief that particular groups are dangerous to them.
PROVISIONS FOR PROTECTING THE MINORITIES
Under Indian Constitution
India doesn’t have a great past when
it comes to dealing with minorities especially dealing with religious minorities. When the past is
looked upon, the religious differences and based on the minority, British India was divided into India and Pakistan[7], and many people died because of the indifferences. Therefore, religious indifferences create many issues in multi-cultural,
multi- religious countries,
and that was most of the riots in the country occurred due to religious minorities. That is why the term
“secularism” was added through the 42nd Amendment[8] to the preamble of the Indian Constitution. The term means that the state
is independent of the religion
and doesn’t have its own religion.[9]
India’s understanding of the term secularism is very much different from the Western
understanding of secularism. The country allows the open practice and
display of the religion and its
practices, while Western countries can display their religion only in the worship
area. There are many rights and
provisions given under Indian law, like part III of the Indian constitution[10] holds the rights of these minority
people. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution[11] states that everyone has equal protection of rights
and will be protected before the law. This equality
right has been derived from the rule of law, which is the basic structure of
the Constitution.[12]
Articles 15(1)[13] and 15(2)[14] of the Indian constitution also
states clearly that there should not there should be no discrimination based on religion,
caste, sex, race and so on, and Article
16 (1)[15] and
16(2) of the constitution[16] also
states that there will be no discrimination in regards to the opportunity given to Indian
citizen. Articles 25 to 28[17] are the articles which are mostly inclined towards religious equality. It
specifically states that every person has the right to profess, propagate and practice the religion of their own, but
they should do the same by keeping
the public order, morality and health.[18] For example, triple talaq[19] was part of the Muslim culture, but it got banned because
it violated the rights of women who come under
another form of minorities.
The article also stated that nobody
would be forced to pay tax for the religious institution[20], and nobody would be discriminated against
based upon their religion
in the education institution.[21] Citizens can also have the right to establish and
administer educational institutions and should not be discriminated against based on religion, as
stated in the case TMA Pai Foundation & Ors v. State of Karnataka & Ors.[22]
Commission established by law
Not only the Indian Constitution but also statutory commissions are there to
protect the religious minorities and
give them the rights that these people deserve in the country. There is the National Commission for Minorities which was established under
the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992[23] where it states the function of the
commission[24] in regards to securing the minorities against any discrimination faced by them and if there is any problem
or issue, then this commission will help the minorities by approaching the appropriate authority.[25] There is one more that is also there for helping
minorities, and it is based on both the national and state levels. The national and state human rights commission, which was established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993[26] will help minorities when their human rights are being violated; there are NGOs at the ground
level to help them, and they get interim relief too.
Schemes and Initiatives were taken to protect the minorities
Some
schemes and initiatives have been taken to uplift
these minority people
and to help them share
equal status in the country. These initiatives work at the ground level there
are many sectors where these schemes and initiatives have taken place,
like for education empowerment, there
are schemes like Naya Savera,[27] which provides free coaching and
education to the minorities, which will help them to have a stand in the society. There are schemes like Maulana
Azad Education Foundation[28] and Equity to National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC)[29], which mostly
focus on supporting the institutions established by minorities. Infrastructure development schemes will help develop
the infrastructure and work upon the
village of these minorities and so on. There are also schemes based upon skill development and employment generation,
like those for educating school dropouts called Nai Manzil.
There is a scheme only focussing on developing the skill, mainly economically
based, and this scheme is called Seekho and Kamao[30]. Some schemes mostly focus on the
special needs of minorities, like the
Hamari Dharohar[31] scheme is for protecting the culture
of the minorities.
VICTIMISATION OF RELIGIOUS AND
ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE US
The minorities in this section have
been divided into two groups that is Ethnic and religious sections. The victimization of these two
sections happens through a term called “Hate Crime” which was first brought up in the US in the 1970s with the
intention of collecting crime statistics. Their 14th Amendment clearly states that “no one should be discriminated when it comes to the
equal protection of laws” which should also be extended to the minority
groups. Unfortunately, there are as
many different reasons for hatred as there are people who make up the US,
an ethnic, religious, and mixed-gender melting pot. Despite recent advances in fostering a variety
of religions and compassion, the victimisation
of religious minorities persists
as a major issue in the USA.
First dealing with the crimes against
the religious minorities, there was a surge in the cases of religion-based violence against the
Muslims after the 9/11 attacks for unjustifiable reasons. They were violently targeted and discriminated against
like unnecessary suspicion, singled out my airport security, slander, etc. In the
recent years though, the violence against the Jews and the Sikhs have taken a hit with an unsettling wave of “bigotry
and hostility”. Minorities are being
wrongfully singled out for practising their fundamental constitutional right to
religious liberty, including through
attacks on current and potential religious centers, discrimination driven by religion,
and misleading congressional hearings.
Even in the minority groups we have a
sub section of vulnerables that is the women and the elderly who are targeted in the forms of sexual assault and
robbery or aggravated assault respectively which is known as violent
victimisation.
|
Hate Crime
|
|
3.10%
|
|
6.10%
|
|
9.60%
|
|
11.60%
|
|
51.40%
|
|
Anti- Jewish
|
|
Anti- Sikh
|
|
Anti-Islamic
|
|
Anti- Catholic
|
|
Anti- Eastern Orthodox
|
The pie here shows the percentage of
victims in each religious minority group to hate crimes during the US during the
year 2021.
The crimes against the Jews have
peaked since the 2018 Synagogue Massacre where 11 jews were killed by a gunman targeting them in their place of faith
which screaming slurs at them. And most recently,
in 2022 where within 7 hours a 27-year-old man, stole a car from a man and ran over 3 Jews with that same car only
because of their appearance of being Orthodox Jews. There are only excuses
in the name of reasons
when such incidents
happen because what other reasons
could one human have to
be so hateful towards another human.[33]
A 19-year-old in 2022 attacked
3 sikh men in Queens,
NYC and ripped their turbans
off which is a direct attack on their
faith. Sometimes, the excuse behind attacking
sikhs is often times they are confused as Muslims.[34]
Now we are going to deal with the
other minority group that is the ethnic minorities who are basically the Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans, etc. Everyone is aware of the George Floyd incident and how it created a hue and cry
around the world but even after the mass movement such cases are still on the rise in the US. About 65% hate
crimes according to the FBI reports are
|
Hate Crime
6.60%
7.10%
31.10%
10.50%
African-American Latinos Asian American Arab Descent
|
based on ethnicity.
We
see and hear news about anti-Asian
hate crimes, and we see those getting reported,
but the crimes against Latinos
are never reported up to that extent even though they are victimised the second most according to the data.
The worst incident
would be that of the El Paso shooting in a
supermarket, where 23 were killed and 22 injured.[35]
Why are these minority groups
victimised?
The reasons are simple but beyond
comprehension that it can lead a human to kill another human. The reasons have been categorized by the National Crime
Victimisation Survey (NCVS).
·
Inability
to Defend- As mentioned previously, the examples of women and elderly being
targeted and harmed as they are, in general, seen as the weaker section of
society and then belonging to a minority group puts them in a spot of being
victimised.
·
Prejudiced
Police- It has been seen time and again and not only in the US but also in our
country, where government officials start acting with a bias in mind. The
George Floyd case is the greatest example of the same. The Criminal Justice
system cannot be flawed in its functioning but the fact that most police
brutality statistics show the victims to be African Americans shows the sad
state of affairs.[36]
·
Historical/Social
Bias- In all the incidents mentioned above, we see most of the perpetrators
being teenagers, and the fact that it is ingrained in them creates a mental
block which leads them to take such drastic steps. The “white replacement”
concept has been persisting for generations which is a major downfall.
There was an obvious surge in the
number of hate crimes against Asians during the pandemic, for which the
government came up with the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, which specifically deals
with Asians. The has guidelines for creating state-run hotlines to support the
victims and prevent such crimes by also raising awareness of the same. They are
baby steps but steps nonetheless.
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS
1.
United Nations
Minorities Declaration –
Rights of Persons Belonging to
National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992)
States are required by
this statement to safeguard the very being and rights of minorities. Additionally, it exhorts governments to
support minority groups' “national, ethnic,
cultural, religious, and linguistic identities”. Minorities have the right to practice their religion, take part in their culture, and speak their own
language in private as well as public places without fear of being disparaged, according to Article 2(1) of this charter. In a society that values inclusivity, this is crucial.
2.
International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (UN 1965)
Issues about hate speech
and crimes against religious minorities, such as assaults on their houses of worship, holy places, or
property, as well as proposals made about accessibility to education
in minority languages, were all addressed under this Convention.
RECOMMENDATIONS
There are a few recommendations which are not exhaustive but will help improve the situation of the minorities and will help in
living the same status of life as the majority. Therese recommendations are:
·
Publicly
condemn intolerance and hold to account public officials involved in
perpetrating or inciting religious violence.
·
Give
survivors of communal violence and their families legal help, as well as other
forms of assistance, and look into claims of hurdles to justice
·
To
take legal action against the vigilantes who are responsible for such issues.
·
To
have proper laws and bills for such discrimination and against any violence and
regulation against the communal violence
·
The
Constitution's fundamental rights must be upheld, and legislation and policies
that violate them and encourage violence against religious minorities must be
repealed or changed.
·
Take
action to address the pervasive economic, social, and cultural prejudice
against religious minorities.
[1] “Yamini Aiyar,
and
Meeto Malik. “Minority Rights,
Secularism and Civil Society.” Economic
and Political Weekly, vol. 39, no.
43, 2004, pp. 4707–11.”
[2] “MISRA, AMALENDU. “Hindu Nationalism and Muslim Minority
Rights in India.” International Journal
on Minority and Group Rights, vol. 7, no. 1, 2000, pp. 1–18.”
[3] “Reynolds, Nathelene. “Hindu Nationalism and the
Muslim Minority in India.” Corridors of
Knowledge for Peace and Development,
edited by Sarah S. Aneel et al., Sustainable Development Policy Institute,
2020, pp. 279–303.”
[4] “Chopra, Suneet. “Problems
of the Muslim Minority in India.” Social Scientist, vol. 5, no. 2, 1976, pp. 67–77.
[5] “The
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019”
[6] “Chris Cameron,
These Are the People Who Died in Connection With the Capitol
Riot, THE NEW YORK TIMES,
Jan. 5, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-deaths.html (last visited Apr 23,
2023).”
[7] “The Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com
& Nadeem Nusrat, Partition of India and the Issue of Religious Minorities, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/13/partition-india-and-issue-religious-minorities/
(last visited Apr 18, 2023).”
[8] “The
Constitution (Forty Second
Amendment) Act, 1976”
[9] “S. R. Bommai v. Union of India;
[1994] 2 SCR 644”
[10] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Part III”
[11] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 14”
[12] “Article 14 - Equality Before Law and Equality
protection of the law, https://articles.manupatra.com/article- details/Article-14-Equality-Before-Law-and-Equality-protection-of-the-law (last visited Apr 22, 2023).”
[13] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 15 cl 1”
[14] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 15 cl 2”
[15] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 16 cl 1”
[16] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 16 cl 2”
[17] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 25; Art 26; Art 27; Art 28”
[18] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 25”
[19] “Triple talaq: India criminalises Muslim “instant divorce,” BBC NEWS, Jul. 30, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49160818 (last visited
Apr 23, 2023).”
[20] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 27”
[21] “The Constitution Act, 1950; Art 29”
[22] “TMA Pai Foundation & Ors v. State of Karnataka & Ors; (2002)
8 SCC 481”
[23] “The National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992”
[24] “The National Commission
for Minorities Act, 1992; S 9
cl 1”
[25] “National Commission for Minorities, https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=0&ls_id=216&lid=221
(last visited Apr 23, 2023).”
[26] “the
Protection of Human Rights Act,
1993”
[27] “Naya Savera | National Government
Services Portal, https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/naya-savera (last visited Apr 23,
2023).”
[28] “Official
Website of Maulana Azad Education Foundation, Ministry of Minority
Affairs, Government of India, https://www.maef.nic.in/ (last visited
Apr 23, 2023).”
[29] “National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation, https://www.nmdfc.org/
(last visited
Apr 23, 2023).”
[30] “???? ?? ????,
Ministry of Minority Affairs, http://seekhoaurkamao-moma.gov.in/
(last visited Apr 23, 2023).”
[31] “Hamari Dharohar,
https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=1&ls_id=747&lid=60
(last visited Apr 23, 2023).”
[33] “https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/ocean-county-man-charged-federal-hate-crimes-series-violent-assaults- members-orthodox”
[34] “https://abc7ny.com/queens-sikh-man-attacked-attack-rally-nirmal-singh/11747910/”
Article Information
VICTIMISATION OF ETHNIC/RELIGIOUS MINORITIES: INDIA VS. USA BY: ATREYEE CHAKRABORTI
Authors: ATREYEE CHAKRABORTI
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2024/01/17
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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